A/N: I apologise if anyone was expecting another chapter of Butterfly Effect first but I'm having a bit of a hard time writing the latest chapter. I know what I want to say, I'm just not sure how to say it. The fact that I had this little nugget stuck in my head was not helping matters so I decided to get this done first. Haven't had a second pair of eyes check this out so please excuse any mistakes.
Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck.
"Has Walker approached the house?"
"We have had no visual confirmation of Agent Walker within the vicinity other than a brief drive by at about o-one-hundred hours. According to the agents watching her motel, she returned at about o-four-hundred hours."
"So there are three hours of absence unaccounted for? Why was no one tailing her?"
"With all due respect, ma'am, Agent Walker is just that, a trained agent and one of the best. She would've spotted a tail a mile away."
"A good point."
"Thank you ma'am."
"We did manage to hack into the GPS lo-jack on her rental. From what we can see, Agent Walker parked a few blocks away and the car remained stationary for a couple of hours."
"So we can assume that she partook in a little recon."
"Indeed. Based on that fact, we have determined the most likely scenarios in which she attempts to make contact with the family and have outlined a few contingencies."
"Proceed as planned then. We need Agent Walker to draw out anyone else that is watching her or the sister, anyone else is considered acceptable collateral damage. I don't need to tell you what will happen should this mission fail."
"Yes, I understand."
"Very well, you have your orders."
Tossing the phone into the glove compartment, the agent turned back to looking out the window as a scowl crossed his face. He hated those damn pencil pushers who sat behind their desks and assumed they knew everything.
"What's Beckman want?" his partner said from the driver's seat.
"Same thing as always, sitrep and reminding us about what will happen if we fail."
"Damn hag."
"You got that right."
After hanging up on Orion, Sarah began making plans on how to approach the situation. The person she needed to speak to would not be easy to approach, he'd almost certainly always be under watch but he was absolutely essential to her plan.
First things first, Sarah thought. I need to get some form of transport that doesn't have a damn GPS pinpointing my every move.
Starting up her engine, Sarah took a long drive through the foothills as she fleshed out her plan to contact Ellie. Orion was right, Ellie wasn't safe where she was, not with the NSA/CIA and Fulcrum all after the same thing. There would be no choice but to get her to safety on her own, the problem being how Sarah could get Ellie away from the large number of agents that were most assuredly watching her.
Deciding that she did, in fact, have no choice but to go with the route she had come up with while talking to Orion, Sarah started her work on planning out a meet.
As she finally arrived back at her hotel, Sarah spotted the dark van parked about a block away from her motel. Snorting to herself, she wondered if the NSA was really that inept. The truck was a near exact replica of the one she and Chuck had worked out of, so many times before.
As she walked slowly up the stairs to her room, Sarah wondered if someone had followed her from the motel to Echo Park but nearly immediately dismissed the idea. The lo-jack was enough for her to be tracked, for now, and she was an expert in spotting and shaking tails. Even if it had not occurred to her before now, there was no way she wouldn't have noticed a tail.
Unlocking the door, Sarah walked into her motel room and looked around. She was still mostly packed, her personal laptop sitting on top of the small table that stood against one side of the room. She needed information but using an unsecured laptop and connection was just inviting the people watching her to spy on her activities. She continued pondering the latest hurdle before her eyes landed on the metal briefcase leaning against the bed.
Slapping herself on the forehead at her complete lack of foresight, she began counting down the amount of hours she had been awake. The flight from DC yielded no rest because she had been too on edge about the whole situation and ever since she had received contact from Orion, Sarah had been working on almost auto pilot and adrenaline. She couldn't even remember the last time she ate.
Figuring that she'd be of no use to Ellie or Chuck if she was caught dead on her feet, Sarah stripped down to her underwear and a loose fitting t-shirt, one of Chuck's that she must have filched on a stay over, she realized. She didn't even remember packing this though, she reasoned, she had barely unpacked since leaving Burbank. Slipping into bed after making sure to set the alarm to wake her in a few hours, Sarah burrowed under the sheets and tried to still her mind sufficiently so that she could rest.
In the quiet moments just before Sarah fell asleep, her thoughts began to race over everything that had happened in the last two months, from the moment that she had been ripped away from Chuck. A deep ache shot through her heart as she realized she had never gotten to tell Chuck how she really felt. While Chuck had never put his feelings into words, his actions spoke loud and clear but she was guilty of constantly using the job as an excuse to avoid the truth, always rejecting and hurting Chuck. The only problem was that Sarah Walker felt exactly the same way as Chuck did but she had been too cowardly to tell him before he was taken.
I'll fix this, Sarah thought, swiping at the sudden tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. Bringing the short sleeve of the t-shirt she wore up to dab at her eyes, Sarah's senses were suddenly filled with the scent of Chuck. The familiarity of the scent calmed her down and she pulled the collar over her nose and took a deep breath. I will fix this.
Sarah woke to the bustle of cars and the early afternoon sun streaming in through the gap in the curtains. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she quickly glanced at the alarm clock and noticed that she had woken up a bit earlier than expected.
No time like the present, Sarah thought as she jumped out of bed and headed to the bathroom to wash up. Was she once done getting ready for the day, her first order of business was to not arouse the suspicion of anyone watching her by sticking to a very obvious schedule.
Picking up her normal phone while shifting the curtains aside a bit, she saw the same van parked down the street and smiled. Quickly sifting through her contacts till she found Ellie, she thought through the prepared speech one more time before hitting dial.
"Hello?"
"Hi Ellie, it's Sarah."
"Sarah? Oh my god, Sarah!"
"I'm calling about Chuck."
"Wait, what about Chuck? Did something happen to him?"
Curious, Sarah thought, Does Ellie not know yet? "No, nothing, just wanted to talk to you about him. Are you busy later?"
"I'm pulling a double shift at the hospital later and won't be done till tomorrow. Can we meet tomorrow night?"
"Sure, I'll text you the time and place."
"Great! I'm really looking forward to seeing you again. I missed having you around so much!"
"I missed you too, Ellie. I'll see you tomorrow."
After hanging up, Sarah decided that she'd best act as normal as possible by heading out for some supplies, namely food and coffee.
She returned to her room about twenty minutes later and immediately started up her laptop to search for a good place to meet with Ellie. It took awhile but she finally found some place that met all the criteria she had for the meet up. While using her normal laptop to do some other searches, Sarah pulled out the Orion laptop and booted it up. Orion had assured Sarah that the laptop had an anonymous network access card that she could use without being detected so while she continued to randomly change pages on her laptop to keep the surveillance on her busy, Sarah used the Orion laptop for the real work.
It took a bit of getting used to, initially, but Sarah eventually got a hang of using the proprietary hacking tools the laptop contained and managed to find the information she needed. She could not afford to go in blind and armed with the shift schedule, she was certain that she would be able to contact the the person who could help her without raising any suspicions. Her biggest weapon was the element of surprise and, thanks to Orion, it looked like she would be able to continue maintaining it.
Sarah left for the Buy More at around mid afternoon just to scope the place out. Continuing to follow protocol when she was casing a location, Sarah parked her rental a few blocks away and made the rest of the journey on foot.
She was too well known inside to store to ever hope of getting in without being seen and the fact that CIA substation was still fully operational, Sarah had little doubts that she had already been made by dozens of hidden security cameras across mall. Using her inside knowledge of where some, if not all, of the cameras were positioned, she managed to make her way into a blind spot where she disappeared from view.
Crouching low in a hidden position along the far wall of Large Mart, Sarah watched in amusement as a dozen men trying to appear inconspicuous appeared out of an alley. She almost snorted in laughter at the rookie mistake these agents were making but considered it her good fortune that she was deemed a sufficient threat that so many men would be out and about looking for her.
Slowly sneaking along the wall that hid her from a multitude of cameras, Sarah made her way to the local bus stop to wait for a bus to take her down to Westside Medical Center. She had timed it perfectly and the bus arrived within minutes of her arrival at the bus stop. Taking a seat at the back of the bus, she pulled out a baseball cap from her coat pocket and slipped it onto her head, essentially masking some of her features.
As the bus pulled away from the stop, she watched the small squad of agents fanning out and combing the mall for her.
"What do you mean you lost her?"
"Erm... We can't find her?"
"I'm aware of that Agent Hawkins but you are all trained CIA agents! How could you lose her?"
"General, Agent Walker has intimate knowledge of the set up here at Castle. She knows where all the cameras are, where all the blind spots are. It was easy of her to exploit the system." Agent Hawkins replied, something akin to awe in his voice. He, like everyone else, had heard of the famous Agent Walker but seeing her in action had been a whole other thing. She was amazing, using their own system against them.
"Maybe I should reassign you to Siberia, Hawkins, where you can suitably spend your time appreciating Agent Walker's ability to elude surveillance."
"That is not necessary ma'am," Hawkins choked out quickly. "We have agents canvassing the area, we'll find her soon enough."
Sarah was thankful that the trip to Westside only took about forty minutes, she couldn't afford to go off grid for more than a few of hours. She had mentally calculated the amount of area that the agents would have to cover while maintaining at least some level of effort to hide their search from the public before she had initiated this portion of the plan. She figured she had about a couple of hours before all possibilities were exhausted and they figured out that she was nowhere near the mall.
After she got off the bus, Sarah surreptitiously cased the outer perimeter of the hospital and was satisfied that there was no surveillance on the area. Ellie wasn't due to arrive for another two hours but Sarah knew that she always arrived at least a half hour early to prepare for her shift. Making her way to the office building across from the hospital, Sarah opted to take the stairs rather than the elevator to the top where she expertly picked the lock to the roof.
Once she was on the roof, Sarah looked for the best vantage point to watch the entrance to the hospital's underground garage and settled herself in for surveillance. She pulled out the pair of binoculars she had brought along and began watching the roads.
About eighty minutes later, Sarah spotted a familiar Toyota Sienna driving down the street. Bringing her binoculars to her eyes, Sarah could barely make out the outline of a woman. Shifting the line of sight downwards, Sarah kept watching till she could make out the license plate. Yup, that's Ellie. Sarah thought with a small amount of satisfaction, she'd have plenty of time to make it back to the Buy More mall.
As Sarah had expected, a couple of vehicles were following Ellie, a big black SUV with dark tinted windows and a a surveillance van. Seriously, do these guys even know how obvious they are being? Sarah thought with some annoyance.
Sarah watched as Ellie stopped briefly at the exit to allow a Prius pulling out of the garage to pass before making her way in. The SUV followed Ellie into the parking garage while the van parked further down the street. Satisfied with the fruits of her surveillance, Sarah used her secured phone to call for a cab, instructing the driver to wait on the blind side of the office building.
Just over two hours since she had slipped away from the mall, Sarah made her way back to a different blind spot as quickly as she could while simultaneously avoiding as many agents as she could. It took awhile but she eventually made it. Waiting for her chance, Sarah watched the multitude of agents swarming the parking area. They must've brought in reinforcements, she thought.
When she was certain that no one was paying any attention to the corner she was in, Sarah casually slipped back into view of the security cameras and strolled across the lot and back to her car. She could literally pinpoint the exact time the agents received word that they had her back in surveillance because almost every single one of them raised a finger to their ear and turned in her direction. Frowning at how much time she was wasting leading all these agents on a merry chase, Sarah soothed her frayed nerves with the fact that it had been a very productive day.
This time tomorrow, Chuck's family will be safe and there'll be nothing stopping me from going after Fulcrum, she told herself.
Picking up her pace as she approached the Buy More, Sarah strode in quickly and once again utilized her knowledge of camera positions and the general lay out of the store to make her way undetected and undeterred to the break room. Finding the locker that she was looking for, Sarah slide an enveloped through the slats before exiting through the docking area.
Moving quickly to avoid being detained by the on-site agents, Sarah made her way back to her car and drove back to her motel, stopping to pick up food for dinner on the way. Once she had reached the family restaurant, Sarah made her order before moving to the restroom to contact Orion. A brief whispered conversation where she laid out her plans to him. Orion expressed admiration at how fast she was moving and promised her that she would have transport ready at a designated extraction point that he would text to her at a later time. Once she was satisfied, Sarah headed back out to the dining area where she tried her best to enjoy dinner.
She frowned as she pulled out of the parking lot after dinner and noticed a black SUV openly tailing her. She supposed the NSA and CIA didn't appreciate me pulling a disappearing act on them twice in the same day.
Sarah decided to stay in for the night and randomly surfed through channels on the provided television in her room, using the mindless chatter as a way to calm her nerves. She had an important mission the next day and success depended on how focused and prepared she was. Preparations were made to the best of her efforts so all she could do now was clear her head and steel her nerves.
Just like any other mission, Walker. She thought.
Sarah fell asleep that night the same way she had before, wrapped securely in Chuck's t-shirt, his scent enveloping her and dreaming of what she would do once she finally had Chuck back with her.
Due to the mission she planned to undertake, Sarah woke early and sifted through the items she had brought with her to LA. Many of them would need to be left behind. Sifting through her luggage, Sarah packed a couple of changes of clothing and retrieved a photo of Chuck and her from a happier time. She gently ran her finger over Chuck's beaming face and once again felt her eyes fill with tears. Swiping at them angrily, she carefully slipped the photo into the duffel she had used to store the Orion phones. Adding to the photo and her change of clothes, she slipped in the t-shirt she had filched for Chuck and the Orion laptop.
Hiding the duffel underneath the pillows, Sarah walked out of the room and placed a do not disturb sign before she made her way back to the small cafe she had picked up lunch from the previous day. The bakery that was next to it would provide breakfast for the day and Sarah had no idea when she would next have a chance to eat.
Once back in the room with her food, Sarah turned the TV back on and left it on a twenty-four hour news network channel before picking up the bag of pastries she had picked and began munching her way through them. Once she was done, she downed a quick cup of coffee before proceeding to peer out the tiny crack in her window's curtains to establish where the people watching her were currently located.
Once she had mentally recorded each of their positions, Sarah made her way to the bathroom and, as quietly as she could, eased open the window and pulled through it. It had taken some awkward manoeuvrings and coupled with the fact that she was trying to be as quiet as possible, it took far longer than she hoped to finally find herself balancing against the window sill of the bathroom. Making a small hop to the nearby piping, Sarah lowered herself till she was within jumping distance of the low wall that separated the motel from a set of apartments before nimbly hopping on to the wall.
From there, it was a simple matter of walking out to the street and hailing down a cab. According to her research, he would be getting off work soon and she needed to intercept him before he made it all the way home.
Sarah had to take special care to not show up on any security cameras this time, as she slowly and methodically made her way to a place where she could keep watch on the exit. If she was picked up by any cameras this time, it would prove disastrous to her plan. She arrived just in time to see him leaving with a few colleagues where appeared to be, from what she could hear about the animated conversation, talking about what seemed like every inane thing under the sun.
"C'mon," she hissed. "Get moving."
It took another good ten minutes before he finally broke off from the group and began making his way across the parking area. Once Sarah was absolutely certain that there was no one around to see her, she quickly slipped behind the man and swept his feet out from underneath him. Pouncing onto his back and using her knees to pin his arms behind him, Sarah held a hand to his mouth to muffle his cries of surprise and protests.
"Shh," She whispered into his ear. "Devon, don't freak out."
To be continued.
A/N: So, this bit of plot popped into my head and I couldn't even begin to properly work on Butterfly Effect till I had this fleshed out. I wonder how many of you saw this coming because I know a few people hypothesized that Morgan would be the go-to man.
I apologise if it isn't great, I'm working on little to no energy and I kind of broke my toe as well so I'm a bit distracted.
As always, if you see any mistakes or errors or just have a general thought, please let me know.
Cheers.
